Fogg

I understand why you'd say that, but personally I think it's a fairly shrewd thing to gauge for a general consensus here, as I have. I readily admit that I perhaps introduced myself a bit on the early side. Either way I'm aware that I have a lot to learn before I decide whether to commit.

I figured that if I took the watertight SIPs route then that covers the rump of the project that I feel out of my depth with. Regarding the rest, I know enough electricians, tilers, chippies, groundworkers, plumbers etc to muddle through it and hopefully not get too badly burnt. I am pretty good at managing costs and getting things done affordably, that's a big part of keeping the business I run afloat. My problem is I'm spinning enough plates with that, I won't have time to do too much hands on work myself, plus, in all honestly I'm a bit cackhanded. I know my strengths, and accept building isn't one of them. Thanks for your 2p.

It's obvious with hindsight that the canny developers in that auction room were aware of the difficulty getting a viable build on the plot and figured it wasn't worth the risk, and that's why I ended up getting what I thought was a bargain. I've subsequently been lucky insofar that I had a planning officer sympathetic to the problems I faced, the Town Council had been recommending refusal. I also had a neighbour who set a helpful precedent by putting up a bungalow way closer to the neighbouring pumping station which the water company didn't want any development within 15m of. So, in terms of increased value, I think it's safe to say I'm sitting fairly pretty. The path of least resistance is to offload and bank a tidy profit for once in my life, but where's the fun in that?

My story: I had a few hours to kill and went to a property auction in which I somehow managed to buy a plot with outline planning permission for what seemed like an insanely cheap price. It later transpired that it was blighted with services that didn't run where the utilities companies stated where they did, and it looked undevelopable for a while. Thanks to a bit of leeway from the local authority we got through Reserved Matters with a contemporary design that sits with in the useable footprint, and I'm now at the stage where I need to decide whether I'm going to see it through or sell it to someone who knows what they're doing. I've got to to decide fairly sharpish whether I'm going to progress to the next stage and get building control drawings done. I'm leaning towards taking the SIPs route and getting someone like Potton erect and make watertight, but am mindful that I'm out of my comfort zone, so am very open to any advice that's forthcoming. I will need a property to move into within a few years, so if the numbers stack up getting it built does make a lot of sense.